


Meet Me Halfway

by Balthabazar



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, M/M, soul mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-08
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-03 22:16:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1758329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Balthabazar/pseuds/Balthabazar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In your final year of high school, everyone has to attend a ceremony telling them the name of their soul mate.<br/>Dean Winchester is one of these seniors waiting anxiously to be given the name, so he can then start his life looking for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Choosing/Chosen/Choice

He stared at himself in the mirror and took at deep breath, his lungs filling up gradually. It was a big day, naming day, the biggest day of his life so far. He let out the breath he'd been holding and splashed some water on his face in an attempt to calm himself down.

Today he’d find out the name of his soul mate, the person who he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with. He'd been both dreading and looking forward to this since he could remember, but now it was here... 

“Dean! Are you nearly ready?” His Mum called from downstairs. He took in another breath “Just coming!” He yelled back, looking at his reflection one last time and tugging a few loose hairs into place. He walked out the bathroom and down the stairs to join his mum and brother at the door.

They stepped out of the house, the sunlight momentarily blinding them, it was July after all, and made their way to the car. He looked around and saw the other boys and girls his age, same shaky look on their faces, all going to the same place, all with the same question on their brains.  Dean stepped into the driver’s seat of his beloved Chevy Impala and started the car. “This’ll be you in a few years Sammy.” He joked to his brother in the back seat, glancing at his brother in the rear view mirror.  “You have to get there first, love.” His mother cut in. “Don’t worry Dean; I’m sure everything will turn out exactly how you want.” Dean felt calm spreading over him with his mothers encouraging words. “Thanks mum.” He said and shot her a grateful glance.

 

                                                                                               ******************

 

The drive there is uneventful. The roads were packed and it took them three times the time as it would on a normal day, What with every senior from their region all headed in the same place. Dean turned into the the Town Hall and they parked up pretty quickly despite the crowds. Sam and their Mother, Mary headed to the Ceremonial Hall whereas Dean followed the long line of guys and girls his age heading to the test rooms. The actual Ceremony was set out like Graduation, so it felt as recognizable as possible for all the recently graduated seniors. A random important person spoke about the honour of the naming day, the history of naming and how it came to be, then seniors are called in alphabetical order and a scroll is given with the first name of their soul mate on.

Not whole name, apparently that’s too easy for whoever’s upstairs. No just the first name, but it was enough to scare most people shitless.

A lot of people were already dating someone and to be told that they weren’t meant to be? Well that usually puts a damper on the relationship. Dean was one of these people having been in a pretty serious relationship with a girl called Lisa for a couple years and he was dreading getting that slip of paper. Dean looked up and saw Lisa, leaning against a wall, surrounded by her friends. He thought about calling her over but quickly decided against it. It was test day after all; he probably should see what happens before talking to her.

The queues disappeared quickly and too soon it was Dean’s turn. He stepped inside the cold, plain room and took a seat in front of four government officials. Everything was quiet, they officials didn't even look up, all too busy scribbling down information about his precursor. Dean studied their faces; there were two women and two men, all of similar ages all looking like they’d rather be anywhere else. The bald man nearest the door looked up, forced smile on his face. “Hello, I’m Zachariah, Could you please state your full name and date of birth for us.” He gestured to the recording device attached to the computer in front of him.

“My name is Dean Henry Winchester and I was born January 24th1995.” Everyone begins writing again, copying Deans exact answer.

“And you live where and with whom?” A brown-haired Woman spoke up, Naomi, her name tag read.

“55 Macabre road, Lawrence Kansas, and with my brother Sam and Mother, Mary.”

“Okay that’s fine now if you’d like to stick your hand in there,” Zachariah said, pointing to the machine on the table in front of a blonde woman who was yet to speak. “Don’t worry it’s totally harmless, we just need a tiny bit of blood to find your chosen name.”  

Dean made a face, but got up and placed his hand into the black box of a machine; he felt a pinch at the tip of his index finger. The screen on top of the machine lit up, with colours flashing faster than he could keep track.

 

“Okay Dean,” Zachariah said, breaking his concentration, “You’re free to go, please wait by the stage for your name to be called.”

Dean collected his thoughts and turned towards the door. In his hurry to leave he almost ran into the guy going in after, he gave him an apologetic grin and started to make his way to the ceremony hall. It wasn't a grand sight, brown brick towering over him with a double side door to let people onto the stage. People had begun to surround the entrance as the last few took the test, Dean hurried to join the crowd, trying to find someone to stand with.

“Winchester!”

Dean whirled to see a smiling red-head beckoning him over. He smiled.

“Hey Charlie!” he said, pulling her in for a hug. They had been friends since well, he doubted he could remember a time when they hadn’t been friends at this point, Charlie lived on the same street as him and they had begun playing together from a young age. She shared his love of Star Trek and even if she did think that Star Wars was better, he forgave her for it. 

“Nervous?” she asked. Dean gave her his version of one of his brothers bitch faces.

“Yeah, yeah stupid question.” Charlie sighed. They settled into a comfortable silence, he scanned the crowd and caught sight of Lisa again. She was looking right at him. He gave her a small smile and she returned it, quickly looking away. Today was not the day for any existing relationships. Charlie followed his gaze, "Don't worry," She said "If it's meant to be it's meant to be." she rubbed is arm reassuringly. Dean sighed.

 The blonde woman from the test room suddenly appeared on the steps to the stage. 

"Hello everyone, the Ceremony is about to begin, We’ll be calling you up in alphabetical order, so please, if your surname is near the start make your way to the front of the crowd. Those further back remember to stay in hearing distance!”

Charlie gave Dean a sympathetic smile as her surname was Bradbury, that meant her.

“Go, I’ll be fine,” He whispered, “Good luck and come and find me after, okay?” She hugged him one last time and made her way to the edge of the steps with the rest of the A’s to D’s.

Dean sat down, leaning against the wall of the ceremony building. He listened to the loud voice of the announcer, soon learning that she was called Hester and that her nasal voice was highly repetitive and annoying. He attempted to tune her out, focusing instead on the clouds floating above, he started Metallica to calm himself. He was half way into ACDC's 'You Shook Me All Night', having moved on from Metallica about twenty minutes ago, when he was being shaken by a kid with a craziest mullet Dean had ever seen, he quickly identified him as Ash from his Chem class, telling him that he’d just been called up.

He stood, legs shaking slightly in a way he hoped to be passed off as pins and needles from sitting down too long, but from the sympathetic glance he got from Ash he was guessing not. Dean looked down, pushing through what was left of the seniors to get to the steps. He took a deep breath and forced his legs to work underneath him, to carry his body across the stage. He scanned the crowd for his family, quickly spotting them in the front row of the balcony, waving at him and smiling encouragingly.

He reached the other male from the test room, who then introduced himself as Inias. He had a kind smile plastered on his face which was slightly strained from over use, but still looked genuine compared to his co-workers. He shook Dean’s hand and handed him the scroll with his soul mate’s name on.

It took all of Dean’s strength to stop him from ripping it open right there and then but he smiled back, said a gracious thank you and held his head high whilst he walked to the other side of the stage.

He sauntered down the steps and went to sit on the green where Charlie was lying, waiting for him.

“So?” He said to her, her scroll tucked into her bag, opened.

“Gilda.” She answered, not opening her eyes.

“That’s a chick’s name.”

“Well yeah, I’ve suspected as much for a while now but it’s always nice for someone to confirm that for me.” She said, sitting up. “I haven’t heard of a Gilda around here though, you?”

“No, sorry.”

She sighed, “Ah well, hey have you opened yours yet?”

“No, I’ll do it now.” He said, and began breaking the waxy seal.

“Dean!” someone called. He turned to see Sam running towards him, followed by his mother. “You opened it yet?” Sam said, anticipation clear on his face.

“No, not yet.”

“Sam!” His mother called, “I’m sure he doesn’t want us hovering over his shoulder while he finds out his future partner, let’s go wait by the car. You can grill him for information later.”

“Fine.” He sighs, “Come and tell us soon okay?”

“Sure thing, Samsquach.” Dean replied, ruffling his little brother’s hair. He sent a grateful smile at his mum before she turned and dragged Sam away with the promise of them going to the local shop to pick up some ice cream on the way home.

Dean waited till they were a good distance away before turning back to Charlie and sitting down at next to her. He took a deep breath and resumed opening the scroll.

The first thing he took in was that the name was not Lisa, a sense of relief flooded though him, which was instantly replaced with guilt. He loved her, didn't he? 

He thoughts were interrupted by Charlie shoving him lightly, curiosity taking over, she took the scroll from his hands. 

                                                                  _Castiel_

"Castiel? what kind of a name is that?" Charlie said bemused expression on her face.

Dean frowned slightly, the same question on his lips, but a bigger one pressing on his mind;

 

                                                  Where the hell was he supposed to _find_ someone called 'Castiel'?

 

 

 


	2. Recoil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken me so long! I had the last lot of exams and then i was away all weekend. I'm going to try and update a bit more regularly in the future, so without further ado... new chapter

Dean sighed as his phone rang for what seemed like the millionth time, smoke on the water blaring out of its tiny speakers. He watched it vibrate and gradually move across his living room table, not needing to look to see who it was; Lisa had been trying to call him ever since he got in the car to go home. His mum and Sam had stared at it pointingly but thought best to ignore it, much to Dean’s relief. He sighed and reached for it, annoyance and curiosity winning over fear.

“Hey lis”

“Hey, can we talk?”

“Sure.”

“.... Look, we both know what this is about and I don’t want to talk about it over the phone, would you meet me?”

“Diner in an hour?”

“Perfect, see you there.”

“See you there, love-“ The dial tone was harsh against his ears. Dean looked down setting his phone in front of him. He wanted to punch something, cry, hell maybe even both.

Instead he took a deep breath and rose from his chair. He stood, leaning on the table for support.

 

“Was that Lisa?”

“Jesus, Sammy! No one ever told you eavesdropping is rude?”

“No actually, I’m pretty sure you encouraged it.”

Dean rubbed his eyes, “Well, I’m an idiot, don’t listen to me.”

“So?” Sam questioned.

 

Dean looked up at his younger brother, whose eyes were shimmering with concern. Of course they were, everyone knew what was going to happen. Every year thousands of couples were broken up because of the scrolls, no use staying with the one you weren’t destined to love, even if you did. You go the odd couple who just said ‘fuck it’ to the world and the ones who keep the sex but forgo the actual relationship, however knowing Lisa they’d do neither of these things and keep the normal tradition.

 

“Yeah, she wants to meet me.”

Sam winced. “Do you thin-”

“It’s pretty much a given, Sam. I didn’t get her, meaning she didn’t get me. Lisa’s not the type to hang around.”

Sam shifted awkwardly, scratching the back of his head “For what its worth I’m sorry Dean, You were good together.”

“Obviously not good enough.” Dean muttered under his breath, his brother sighed and left the room.

 

He sat down again, twiddling his thumbs in anticipation, _this is ridiculous_ he thought, pushing himself up once more and storming up to his room. Dean dived onto his bed burying his head in the pillow. He glanced at his alarm clock. He had forty minutes till he was supposed to meet her, rolling onto his back he stared up at the ceiling and recounted today’s events in his head.

_Castiel_

He sat up, dragging his laptop over to him, opening it he impatiently waited for it to load. There couldn’t be too many ‘Castiel’s out there, maybe he’d get lucky and find his soul mate quick.

He scrolled though Google, before moving on to all the social media sites he knew, apparently whoever this guy- or girl was, Castiel didn’t exactly scream a certain gender like Michael or Emma, they were obviously allergic to a computer. All he’d learnt was that ‘Castiel’ was the name of some obscure Angel; The Angel of Thursday in the bible.

If he wasn’t so fed up he’d probably geek out to Charlie about how cool that was.

He shoved his laptop away and glanced at the clock again, fifteen minutes. He sighed, he'd have to leave now if he wanted to get there on time.

"MUM! I'M GOING OUT." He yelled and strode out the door whilst tugging on he Dad's leather jacket. He pulled his hands though his short sandy hair in an attempted to style it and started to make his way to the diner. 

It was a nice day, Dean thought as he turned the corner of the street, sun was breaking though the clouds a lazy haze of heat had settled throughout the town.

_There were worse days to break up on._

He rounded the corner for the diner with two minutes to spare. As he approached, he scanned for Lisa only to find her by the window looking as on edge as when she had to tell her parents she was pregnant (False alarm, thank god, Dean was not ready to be a father) 

Dean stepped inside, ignoring the chiming of a bell above the door, alerting everyone that there was a new customer, and went to join Lisa. She’d put her dark hair in a ponytail, her expressions were conflicted. Her beautiful brown eyes screamed unsure. He leaned over to kiss her as she swiftly turned making him catch her cheek. He felt himself flush at the rejection.

“You ordered?” he asked.

“Just a coffee.” She sighed, gesturing to the mug in front of her. Dean just nodded, Lisa wasn’t hanging around just as he predicted.

“Right, so I guess we should talk.” He said, voice trailing up at the end like a question.

“I got Dean.”

He could have sworn his jaw hit the table, his eyes widened.

“Wha- “

“And I’m assuming you didn’t get me, otherwise you would have answered my calls and looked a lot happier to see me.” She smiled sadly.

Guilt flooded Dean as struggled for something to say. Lisa nodded, his reaction confirming what she’d thought.

“It’s okay Dean,” She said, reaching for his hands. “I mean it hurts but... it’s okay.”

“No it’s not Lis, I love you! Why isn’t that enough for people?”

Her eye’s were glistening, threatening to spill over “I don’t know, but just remember, if we thought this was good, what’s it going to be like with our soul mate!”

“Fuck that! How’d they know who our soul mate is? We’re just supposed to drop everything and go searching for a name? You gotta see how fucked that is Lis.”

She looked down, a tear falling from her eye. Dean’s expression softened when he saw, reaching over he caressed her face, wiping the tear away. “Sorry baby, I just.. I’m going to miss you that’s all.”

“I know, I’ll miss you too. Still friends?”

Dean huffed at the cliché line, “Yeah, sure Lisa. Go find your true Dean.”

She half smiled. “And you, go find whoever it is, they’ll be lucky to have you as their soul mate.”

Dean snorted, “Alright, I’m gunna go. Have a nice life Lisa, you deserve one.” Lisa nodded and stood to hug him, throwing her arms around his neck. They stood there for a while, both not wanting to let go.

 

Finally Lisa backed away, shooting him one last smile and leaving him standing alone in the middle of the diner.

 

Dean looked around and caught the eye of a few people he recognized, sympathetic glances were being shot at him regularly. He sighed, picking up his leather jacket and walked out of the diner to make his way home.

The clouds now covered the sky, creating a tense, before the storm feel. As he walked passed the plain brick houses he wandered again about his future and Lisa's and Castiel's. Maybe they'd meet at college in the fall.

Dean was very proud of managing to get out of his stingy little town in the middle of Kansas by getting in to Stanford, much to Sam’s annoyance as that had been he dream since he could talk, to do a mechanical engineering degree. He turned the corner to his street and sighed, as much as he loved his family, he couldn’t wait to go off and actually start his life.

 

He stepped into his house once more, feeling sad for his past, but heavy with anticipation for a future unraveling before his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few of you asked for Cas' reaction, I haven'd planned to include it in a big way but we'll see how the fic goes, Sorry this chapter's a bit short and thank you so much for all your feedback! Your comments made my day. I realize this chapter is just Lisa/Dean sorry if it's no your ship but this will be the last chapter with it.


	3. Chapter 3

5 Years later.

 

A young man was walking down the streets in the middle of L.A. A heavily tattooed arm held a cell phone to his ear. He had dark struffy hair which framed an attractive, yet pissed off face. He had a silver nose ring which glinted in the sun when he moved his head and if you watched him talk, you could catch a glimse of a silver ball though his pink tongue.

 

He wiped a sheen of perspiration from his brow. After two years he was still not quite used to the heat of a Californian Summer or the abundance of tourists, businessmen and women all making their way, same as him.Getting through the day and in the process making the sidewalk a maze-like contraption and ensuring him of having to suffer though slow walkers.

 

“My commissions start at the thousand mark for a painting of that size, nothing less.” He stated for the hundredth time.

“No Mr Adler I am not ‘kidding you’ these are the prices you were told, it should not surprise you and I cannot go any lower,” he sighed

“Yes, I’ll do some preliminary sketches and send you a copy and a definite price by the end of the week.” Hanging up quickly Castiel resisted the urge to punch something. Zachariah was a well respected art collector, but also a well-known cheapskate, not that he needed to be, his Father was the creator and co owner of some company that make poncy shit that rich people used in their kitchen. As far as Castiel knows, the man’s got at least ten million stashed away, but he still refuses, still tries to push people into charging him less. He’s good at it as well, manages to manipulate a lot of people out of a lot of money.

Usually Castiel would just say ‘fuck it’ to a guy like Adler but he needs the money. He finished Art College, had a big show that had attracted lots of publication, since then he’s had a steady stream of commissions and gallery showings but at the moment, he had nothing. Nothing to prepare for, nothing to inspire him, it was like he had hit a metaphorical wall. So yes, here he was, accepting whatever was thrown at him.

 

He needed a drink.

It was only four, but he ducked into the first bar he found, the hanging sign named it the roadhouse. The bar was a bit rough around the edges but it seemed fine, all dark wood, typical bar decor with placs with various awards and photos. He paused to look at the smiling faces of people he didn’t know.

 

“Can I help you with anything?”

Castiel looked up to see the face that belonged to the voice, suddenly having  trouble remembering what he was doing.

The man in front of him had to be some kind of model, his hair was a beautiful, sandy brown and he had the greenest eyes that he’d seen, Castiel had to fight a strong urge to paint them right there.

Oh right, painting, commissions, Adler, _drink_ , that’s why he was there.

“Whiskey please, make it a double.” He huffed.

The man raised his eyebrows “Rough day?” He said turning to reach for a glass, and in the process lifting his tight black top, giving Castiel a perfect view of his ass.

“Uh, yeah kinda.”

the man placed  a drink in Castiel’s hand which he quickly raised to his lips, the whiskey burned its way down his throat leaving a woody after taste.

“I take it whiskey ain’t your usual drink?” The man said noticing Castiel’s grimace.

“That obvious?”

The guy huffed a laugh.

“James by the way,” Castiel said, giving the man the name he painted under. The guy took his out stretched hand in a firm grip, “Dean, pleasure to meet you.” He said smirking before turning to take someone’s order.

 

Cas’ eyes widened, he stood up, emptying his whiskey shuddering at the taste. Slapping down some money he turned to leave making a promise to come back at a more reasonable hour.

 

At this point, Castiel was fed up. He’d gone though the excitement and joy of receiving the name of his one and only and he’d been happy with his name, he truely had. That was four years ago, before he’d been awoken to the harsh realities of life and the simple truth that ‘Dean’ was a very common name.

On multiple occasions he’d had men lie to him to get in his pants. They’d tell him they had been searching for him and only him, at first he’d fall for it going home with them only to be disappointed the next day or week or month, whenever they decided to tell him.

Some people were dumb enough to try and take him home with a tattoo of their soul mate on their bodies, this make sex pretty interesting. It was rare but it happened, Castiel had managed to throw people out because of a poorly covered tat.

At this point, it was fair to say that he had trust issues, so when a guy claiming to be Dean, HIS Dean, forgive him if he didn’t bend over backwards for him or spread his legs here and there.

But this guy couldn’t know, he had no reason to lie and Castiel had begun to wonder.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry sorry I dont even know what happened, i went away then hit a block and im terrible sorry


End file.
